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DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST CONVENTION 
OF PENNSYLVANIA FORESTERS, 



HELD AT HARRISBURG, PA., MARCH 4, 5, 6, 1908. 



HARRISBURG: 

0. E. AUGHINBAUGH, PRINTER TO THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA 

1910 







J. 



JAN 16 il5 



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THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPAKTMENT OF FOEESTKY. 



THE STATE FORESTRY RESERVATION COMMISSION. 

Robert S. Conklin, President. 
Dr. J. T. Rothrock, Secretary. 
Miss Mira L. Dock. 
John Fulton. 
S. B. Elliott. 



THE OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FORESTRY. 

Robert S. Conklin, Commissioner of Forestry. 

Irvin C. Williams, Esq., Deputy Commissioner of Forestry. 

A. E. Strode, Clerk. 

George W. Howard, Clerk. 



THE STATE FOREST ACADEMY, MONT ALTO, PA. 

Robert S. Conklin, Commissioner of Forestry, 

Director in Chief. 
George H. Wirt, Director. 
J. P. Wentling, Assistant Director. 
John E. Avery, Class of 1906, Forester. 
Ralph E. Brock, Class of 1906, Forester. 
William L. Byers, Class of 1906, Forester. 
Robert G. Conklin, Class of 1906, Forester. 
William H. Kraft, Class of 1906, Forester. 
Lewis E. Staley, Class of 1906, Forester. 
B. F. Heintzleman, Class of 1907, Forester. 
James E. McNeal, Class of 1907, Forester. 
Paul H. Mulford, Class of 1907, Forester. 
John L. Witherow, Class of 1907, Forester. 



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TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 

"The Importance of Surveys," John E. Avery, Forester, 9 

"Fertilizers for Renewing Nursery Soils," Ralph E. Brock, Forester, 11 

"Broadcast Sowing vs. Drill Planting," Ralph E. Brock, Forester, 14 

"Forest Protection," William L. Byers, Forester, 16 

"Necessity for Advancing Improvement Work," Robert G. Conklin, Forester, 18 

"A System of Forest Book-keeping," Robert G. Conklin, Forester, 24 

"Forest Nurseries and Nursery Work," William H. Kraft, Forester, 27 

"Dividing the Reserves," Lewis E. Staley, Forester, 29 

"A Regularly Employed Labor Force," Lewis E. Staley, Forester, 32 

"Improvement of the Ranger Service," B. F. Heintzleman, Forester, 34 

"A System of Forest Protection," James E. McNeal, Forester, 37 

"Management of Forest Lands under Present Forest Conditions," James E. 

McNeal, Forester, 40 

"Disposal of Fire Killed Timber," Paul H. Mulford, Forester, 41 

"Roads, Fire Lanes, and Trails on the Reserve," John L. Witherow, 

Forester 45 



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Beginning with September, 1906, the first class of foresters from 
the State Forest Academy went into the field, and the second 
class followed September, 1907. For the purpose of comparing 
ideas and notes on their work and enabling them to have an 
interchange of thought, it was deemed advisable to bring them 
together during the early part of the following year for discus- 
sion of forestal topics and the reading of such papers on pertinent 
subjects as the men in the field might wish to present or hear dis- 
cussed. Accordingly, on February 11th, 1908, the Commissioner of 
Forestry issued a call for the first convention of Pennsylvania for- 
esters to meet at the Department in the new Capitol at Harrisburg 
on March 4th, 5th, and 6th, ensuing. 

In the meantime, the wishes of the men were learned with respect 
to what subjects they wished to hear discussed, the program of ex- 
ercises was prepared, and the meeting duly convened at the Depart- 
ment, Wednesday morning, March 4, 1908. 

The Commissioner of Forestry presided at the meetings, and at 
intervals the other members of the State Forestry Reservation Com- 
mission, all of whom were present, were called upon to preside. 

The papers presented by the young foresters are hereinafter con- 
tained and show that the men were interested in their work and de- 
sirous of learning whatever will assist them to bring better results. 
The discussions after the reading of each paper were participated in 
freely by all present. 

The regular meeting of the Commission was held on Friday morn- 
ing, March 6th, at which the foresters were present and saw how the 
business of the Department is conducted. During the sessions, at 
the invitation of the Governor, a visit was paid to the Executive De- 
partment where Governor Stuart in a short address welcomed the 
foresters and gave them some good advice with respect to their con- 
duct both as men and officials. The Convention adjourned finally 
on Friday, March 6th, and the feeling of those who participated was 
that it was not only a successful meeting, but that much valuable 
instruction had been imparted which would be of permanent use to 
them in the forestal work of the future. 



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THE IMPOKTANCE OF SURVEYS. 



JOHN E, AVERY, Forester. 



Surveying is the art of making such measurements as will determine 
the positions of points on the surface of the earth, so that a map of 
any portion of that surface may be drawn and its contents calculated. 
A survey of all forest lands or reserves of this Commonwealth is ex- 
ceedingly important. Most of the State's reserve lines have not been 
run or retraced for years. Often the blazed trees have been cut, or 
have been destroyed by fire, or blown down. It takes a good surveyor 
with an instrument to follow them. Therefore, the lines should be run 
or retraced, plainly blazed, and blazes painted. Corners should be 
distinctly marked. The lines could be made more visible by cutting 
an open path and by posting notices at frequent intervals. This would 
show conclusively the lands of the State to all persons. The neighbor 
who intentionally or unintentionally gets over the line a little, and 
very often quite a distance, taking timber that does not belong to 
him, will not take the chance of crossing a well marked or well estab- 
lished line. Therefore, stealing of timber ceases almost immediately. 
There are but few cases of timber stealing on the reserves where 
lines have been retraced and visibly marked. 

What can the wardens do, not knowing the lines? Absolutely 
nothing. They cannot properly patrol the land, and they are not sure 
of alleged trespassers being on State lands. One of the wardens re- 
ported to me several weeks ago that a party was chopping wood either 
on the reserve or very close to the line, but he was not sure and did 
not know what to do. He had asked this person where the line is 
and he could not show him, but said he was on his own land. In such 
a case, what are we to do? Finally we got a man living in the same 
community, one who claimed to know almost every line in the woods, 
to go with us. He put us on a line which had been run years ago 
and which he said was the State land line. Are we to rely upon the 
judgment of such persons, and will not work of this kind leave a 
loop-hole for timber thieves to plunder from the State lands? In a 
community like the one I have just cited every person seems to be 
related to every other or else they are bosom friends. What one 
knows all know. If they once find out that we do not know or are 
not sure where our lines are, they will cut without the least hesitancy 
and think all the while they are taking what belongs to them ; for in 
a wooded country, and I think especially in Pike county, there are 
many men who do not think it a crime to go on his neighbor's tract 

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10 

and relieve him of some of his timber. I know of a man who was not a 
native of the county being driven off his own land at the point of a 
gun by a timber thief. The owner knew he had land, but did not 
know the exact location until he had his lines run. 

If the lines of the reserves were surveyed, blazed, and posted, it 
would not only be a benefit to the persons in charge, but also to the 
public and to the sportsmen. The sportsman or hunter, probably not 
accustomed to the distance travelled, may find himself crossing a 
State line, opened, blazed, and posted. He is safe to the extent that 
he is not trespassing on lands of an individual or lands owned by a 
hunting club, and is not liable to arrest and fine of ten dollars or ten 
days in prison for trespassing, and have his game taken away from 
him ; but he does know that he is on a State Forest Eeserve, free for 
all to hunt or fish, provided he complies with the rules of the Forest 
Keservation Commission. 

If our reserves were surveyed and the boundary lines cut open, we 
could have the lands under a better system of patrol. The wardens 
could cover more of the reserve in one day than they can now in two. 
As most of the lines are at present they are delayed by tramping 
through underbrush. Again, the cut lines would serve as wagon 
roads for getting out timber in the future, or as fire lanes, along 
Avhich back-fires could be set whenever a fire is headed toward the 
reserve. We would thus protect the reserve from its most deadly 
enemy, and save hundreds of dollars for the Commonwealth. 

From a forester's point of view, he cannot make a forest working 
plan until he knows what he has. Here again a survey is very neces- 
sary. Not only the outside lines should be run, but township roads, 
railroads, creeks, bluffs, and other obstacles should be located. Lines 
between localities having different jurisdiction, as county and town- 
ship boundaries, interior tracts, lands upon which any rights are 
reserved, or any individual property, should be accurately located. 
The forester cannot divide his reserve into compartments which should 
have natural boundaries, as streams, crests of ridges, swamps, and 
valleys, because they are permanent, until he has a topographical 
survey which will show the various undulations and inequalities on 
the reserve. 

In conclusion, without a survey, the forester is continually handi- 
capped, because 

1st. The wardens are unable to do their duty for the simple reason 
that they are not positive as to location of lines and have to depend 
upon the honesty of neighbors. 

2d. It is not fair to the public, as the State Forest Eeserves are 
open for recreation purposes to the people of the Commonwealth. 

3d, It is most important for a forester to have a map of his re- 
serve. He can do scarcely anything without a map from which to 
make his calculations and working plans. 



11 



E^ERTILIZERS FOE RENEWING NURSERY SOILS. 



RALPH E. BROCK, Forester. 



In discussing the subject "The Best Method of Renewing Nursery 
Soil," I have endeavored to include the two methods most generally 
followed in best agricultural practice, that is, the one in which there 
is application of commercial or other fertilizers, and the other, green 
manuring. The latter is preferable for supplying essential plant 
foods, because of its cheapness, reliability, and mostly because it in- 
volves few or no experiments to determine the plant foods, or the 
amounts that are most needful. 

But laying aside the methods of fertilizing, there is nothing that 
brings the soil up to "dot," so much as thorough tillage, bringing out 
the old adage from which we get the word manoeuvre or manure, "he 
who tills the soil, manures it." From this tillage or working of the 
soil, the texture is improved, and in heavy or clay soils its absorptive 
value is increased. Of course tillage alone will not sufflce. Compost- 
ing or fertilizing must be relied upon to aid. From this source we 
obtain the needed materials, nitrogen, potash, and phosphoric acid. 

Supply of Nitrogen. 

There are two ways of supplying this essential plant food to the 
soil, the one by the application of nitrates, and the other by the prac- 
tice of green manures, the latter of which is preferable, especially if 
the soil is poor. Where the nursery is of sufficient size to keep a por- 
tion of it (one-fifth) unused, this method is very suitable. To restore 
this portion is to begin early in the spring, sowing Canada field pea, 
seeded deeply at the rate of two bushels and one-half per acre, giving 
the soil a top dressing of 300 pounds of acid phosphate and 120 pounds 
muriate of potash. This crop should be ploughed under during the 
latter part of June and the land sown in cow peas. Plow this under 
in September and then sow rye. Give the land now a top dressing of 
350 pounds Thomas meal, 2,650 pounds slaked lime, and 900 pounds 
kainit. This method will give the area one year in good nitrogen 
catch crops, and will improve the texture of the soil considerably, 
making a loose soil more binding and retentive of moisture or a 
clayey soil more open, porous, and absorptive. Also, it would insure 
nitrogen for .years to come, the soil being thoroughly inoculated and 
also possessing a supply of potash and phosphoric acid. 



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The Supply of Potash. 

The most available supply of potash and the one from which the 
least trouble can be expected, is in the use of unleached hard wood 
ashes especially on a soil that is clayey and wet. I have found 
ashes alone a splendid fertilizer at Mont Alto. Professor Johnson 
suggests 30 pounds of freshly burned shell lime, 10 pounds of bone 
meal and 8 pounds kainit a good substitute for wood ashes. This 
formula is equal to 100 pounds of wood ashes. The ingredients can 
be bought at the rate of |4.40 per ton ; hence, it is decidedly cheaper 
and has no weed seed. 

Phosphoric Acid. 

Bone-meal containing three per cent, nitrogen and twenty per cent, 
phosphoric acid, and kainit containing the same amount of phosphoric 
acid, besides many other valuable plant essentials in small amounts, 
are the two best sources of phosphoric acid to be had at a reason- 
able price. 

Formulae for mixing fertilizers and composts are as follows : 

Composts. 

Substitute for wood ash equal to 100 pounds, 30 pounds freshly 
burnt shell lime, 10 pounds bone meal, and 5 pounds kainit. 

Thomas-meal, 16 per cent, citrates, 350 lbs. 
Slack lime, 2,650 lbs. 
Cornallite, 900 lbs. 

Mix well together with fine turf, scatter over ground in late fall or 
winter, and work well in early spring. 

Two measures of Avell rotted wood, two measures of well rotted horse 
manure, one measure of liquid manure. Keep in covered place until 
used. Even quantities of chip dirt and well rotted dung well mixed, 
to which wood ashes and lime have been added. Keep two years. 

Ground bone, 300 lbs. 

Bone black super phos., 300 lbs. (Fall). 

Muriate of potash, 400 lbs. 

Nitrate of soda, 89 lbs. (Spring). 

Von Schroeder's: 
Kainit, 520 lbs. 
Super phosphate, 60 lbs. 
Whale Guano, 320 lbs. 

A good reliable fertilizer for general purposes, is: 
Mixture of 30 pounds hen manure, 10 pounds sawdust, 16 pounds 
acid phosphate, 8 pounds kainit. 



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This will carry about 1.25 per cent, nitrogen, 4.5 per cent, phos- 
phoric acid, and 2 per cent, potash, which used at the rate of two 
tons per acre would furnish 50 pounds nitrogen, 185 pounds phos- 
phoric acid, and 80 pounds potash. 

Substitute for Barn Manure. 

Dissolve one bushel salt in enough water to slack five or six bushels 
lime. The best method for preparing for composting is one bushel of 
this lime to one load of swamp muck, though three bushels to five 
loads is a very good manure. Mix well. 

In laying up the heap let layers of muck and lime be thin so that 
decomposition will be more rapid and complete. Sprinkle salt water 
on the lime as heat goes up. 

When lime cannot be obtained, use three or four bushels of un- 
leached ashes to one cord muck. Turn in a month or six weeks. 

Home-made Guano. 

Save all fowl manure from sun and rain under cover. Spread a 
layer of dry swamp muck and dump fowl manure on top of it. Beat into 
a fine powder with back of spade, add hard wood ash and plaster 
paris to make following proportions: 

Dried muck, 4 bushels. 

Fowl manure, 2 bushels. 

Ashes, 1 bushel. 

Plaster paris, 1^ bushels. Mix well. 

A little before planting moisten with water or liquid manure. Mix 
with soil when planting. 

While home mixing of fertilizers is less expensive than prepared 
fertilizers, care must be exercised in the selection of the needed con- 
stituents for two reasons; first, when certain materials are mixed 
chemical changes take place in which a valuable material is lost, as 
when lime and barn-yard manure are mixed, ammonia is given off; 
and second, a change to a less available form occurs as, when lime and 
super phosphate are mixed, the phosphoric acid is rendered less sol- 
uble ; also, when potash salts and Thomas meal are mixed the product 
is apt to cake and becomes hard to distribute evenly. For this reason 
a German expert lays down the rule that lime and sulphate of am- 
monia ; lime and super phosphate, lime and Thomas slag ; lime and 
barn-yard manure; lime and nitrogenous guano, should never be 
mixed. Nitrate of soda and Thomas meal ; nitrate of soda and lime ; 
potash salts and lime; and potash salts and Thomas meal, should 
never be mixed. Kainit and lime; and kainit and Thomas meal, 
should never be mixed unless used at once. 



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No seed should be sown until several weeks after fertilizers have 
been sown, and where kainit is to be used in mixture, that is, in con- 
nection with a highly nitrogenous product, all but the nitrogenous 
product should be sown the fall before. Concerning lime and nitrate 
of soda I add the following, especially concerning the nitrate of soda. 

A tree is a slow growing ijlant and soluble salts, as nitrate of soda, 
leach away before they can be assimilated by the plant. Regarding 
lime, except as a mechanical ingredient in compost heaps, no con- 
clusive results have been found, except in the case of three hard 
woods. Cherry, linden, and American elm appeared to be benefitted. 

My experience has been that all conifers suffer from the use of 
lime. Even from the use of diluted Bordeaux mixture as a fungicide 
in the endeavor to check "damping off" the coniferous plant suffered. 



BROADCAST SOWING vs. DRILL PLANTING. 



RALPH E. BROCK, Forester. 



In the raising of seedlings for commercial purposes, the idea of 
importance is to raise the greatest number of even sized, vigorous, 
and thrifty seedlings on the smallest possible area at the least ex- 
pense. 

Whether this can best be accomplished by sowing the seed broadcast 
or in drills, depends largely upon the character of the soil in the ger- 
minating beds, the moisture conditions of the locality surrounding, 
as influencing the amount of soil moisture in these beds, the species 
to be raised and the character of the location in which they are to be 
finally planted. Broadcast seeding is most practicable where the 
land has been under a system of thorough tillage for several years, 
in which weeds have been effectually subdued, the water table raised 
by successful cultivation, and where the drainage conditions are such 
that excessive moisture easily and quickly passes away. These con- 
ditions would most likely be found in soil that varies from a sand to 
a sandy loam, and Avhere the surface water of the higher ground sur- 
rounding the nursery site is drained away from the beds naturally 
or artificialy. Drill planting is successful under a wider range of 
conditions, the four to six inch space between the drills renders weed- 
ing less difficult, permits cultivation at all times, and, in times of 
drought, where there is no adequate water system at hand, allows one 
to break the soil to facilitate capillary attraction of water from the 
sub-soil. Again, billets of wood may be laid between the rows of seed- 



15 

lings, in a measure, keeping down weeds, preserving moisture and 
lessening the quantity of leaves needed to cover the beds in the fall. 

In beds that have been sown broadcast, the raising of even-sized 
seedlings excepting by chance is nearly impossible. The seedlings on 
the edges of the beds are larger, more vigorous and possess a more 
healthy color, than the dense masses near the centre of the beds. 
From broadcast sowing it is possible to secure a larger number of 
seedlings per bed, but the beds present an uneven appearance. The 
north and east ends of the bed have seedlings several times larger 
than those of the centre, and those on the south side are likely to be 
dwarfs and possess a less healthy color, though this may have been 
caused by exterior conditions. Where the seed had been sown in 
drills these conditions do not exist to such great degree. 

It has been said that broadcast sowing chokes out weeds, but in 
this State our sowing season is in the latter part of April, after plant 
life has started. Even if we soak the seed, germination does not take 
place for three weeks. During this time the weeds have a good start, 
and from this time on a proportionately larger number of young seed- 
lings are pulled out by weeding in broadcast sown beds than from 
those sown in drills. For this reason alone one would think that 
broadcast sowing would be inadvisable except in old beds where weeds 
have been greatly subdued. The cost of this method of sowing is so 
large as against drill sowing, except as above, that it would be in- 
advisable. 

The cost of making a bed 100 feet by 4 feet averages one dollar, 
and the cost of the seed |14.40, making an initial cost of $15.40, not 
counting the cost of sowing and weeding. Ideally, allowing one seed- 
ling per square inch, this bed should give fifty-seven thousand six 
hundred seedlings, over half of which would be lost in weeding, and 
from damping off and other causes. In clayey soil after a heavy 
rain with bright sun following, the soil would bake and nothing 
could be done. If a drought should follow under these conditions, 
as it generally does, the soil could not be loosened artificially. In 
drill planting the baking of the soil can be remedied, and the initial 
cost of a bed 100 feet by 4 feet is seven dollars and forty cents. There 
would also be from fifteen to twenty thousand plants with a greater 
likelihood of surviving. For this illustration two dollars are allowed 
as the cost of white pine seed per pound, using one and eight-tenths 
pounds per hundred feet broadcast and eight-tenths of a pound in 
drills. Of course drill sowing will increase the bed surface needed, 
but not necessarily increase the cost of working the nursery. More 
beds could be weeded per day, the time gained could be applied to 
cultivation, and in the end labor would be saved, more thrifty and 
vigorous seedlings would be produced suitable for planting both in 
brush and cleared land, and be more satisfactory to the nurseryman 
who raises them. 



16 



FOEEST PEOTECTION. 



WILLIAM L. BYERS, Forester. 



In considering forest management, among the first things should 
be the establishment of an efiflcient protection from fire, insects, and 
atmospheric influences. The most important of these in our case is 
protection from fire. Any reason for an economic forest policy im- 
plies forest protection as the first step to be taken. The object of 
forestry would be defeated without protection. The planting and 
tending of forests are useless and a direct loss without protection. 
The management of a reserve will otherwise certainly prove a failure. 
It is possible to do lumbering on only a few portions of the different 
reserves at this time; but if these lands be protected from fire for a 
period of from twenty-five to forty years, we will then be able to 
cut a crop of timber from the greater portion of the reserves. The 
first protective measure should be the demarkation of the reserve 
boundaries. This survey should be done by competent surveyors. 
In this manner all disputes as to ownership of land will be settled. 
Without a survey some people will advance claims as owners of land, 
and thus have an excuse for trespass upon State forests. In the sur- 
vey of land, nothing but stone corners should be made wherever pos- 
sible, as they are not so easily destroyed as posts and trees. 

The next step should be the making of a good system of roads, trails, 
and fire lanes, which should completely cover the reserve. They will 
furnish safe and effective places from which to fight fire, and they 
will also make the reserve accessible in case of fire. If it is possible, 
a good system of roads and trails should be made in preference to the 
making of fire lanes. Fire lanes should be made only where the grade 
is to heavy for a road and where it is necessary for one or the other 
to be used. 

There should be an efficient force of rangers, about one for every 
5,000 acres of land, and in some cases, one for 3,000 acres, and, during 
fire season, there should be appionted wherever it is found necessary 
an assistant ranger. These rangers should be trustworthy and not 
be appointed for political reasons. They should be required to learn 
their districts, all roads, trails, streams, and note any improvements 
that may be needed. They should patrol their districts thoroughly, 
and learn the needs and habits of the people who frequent their 
ranges. There should be a tower on every reserve, located on the 
highest point, from which may be had a view over most of the reserve. 



17 

During fire season there should be one man in this tower at all times. 
He should be provided with a good pair of field glasses, a complete 
map of the reserve, showing the roads and streams, and should also 
have telephone connection with the officer in charge of the reserve, or 
the nearest ranger. There should be placed on the reserve at different 
points, small tool houses or chests, fitted with a lock and keys, and 
each man empoyed on the reserve should have a key. These chests 
should contain shovels, rakes, picks, and one or two torches for use 
in back-firing. One of these outfits would not cost over ten dollars. 
They should be placed along roads, so as to be easily accessible in case 
of necessity. 

With a private individual, forest protection is a question of profit 
and loss; but with the State, whose purpose in obtaining this land 
is to perpetuate the forest supplies and preserve the water supply of 
the State, it is its duty to protect, even if it does not pay. By afford- 
ing protection, the land will bring the results for which it was bought. 
It pays to protect forested land in Germany, and there is no reason 
why it will not pay to do so in this country. Protection from fire 
would be greatly benefitted by having the law of June 12, 1907, P. L. 
527, apply to all timber lands. 

In case of attacks by insects, one way in which they may be stopped 
is by introducing into the forest insectivorous birds. Trap trees may 
also be resorted to. It is seldom that insects will attack healthy trees. 
Therefore, having a healthy stand of trees, is, in most cases, a protec- 
tion against insects. Against atmospheric influences, a change of 
species will in some cases stop wind-falls. The attention of campers 
should be called to the loss that results from forest fires, often caused 
by carelessness. It is necessary to educate the people so that they 
will be more careful with the use of fire in the forest. The slashing of 
cut-over lands should be burned at a season of the year when there is 
no danger from fire being communicated to surrounding forests. In 
the planting of old fields, it would be well to leave an open strip around 
the planting area, to be kept free of all inflammable material as a 
protection to the young seedlings from fire. Seedling transplants 
should be carefully watched for any attack by insects. From Nov- 
ember, 1903, until March, 1908, or a period of 52 months, the cost of 
protecting the Bedford county reserve, consisting of about 9,000 acres, 
outside of the regular ranger's salary, was |374.48, |7.20 per month, 
or 10.0096 per acre per year. This includes the opening of fire lanes, 
the repair of a road a distance of three miles, and the employing of 
an assistant ranger during several of the fire seasons, and a surveyor 
for a few days. 



18 



NECESSITY FOR ADVANCING IMPROVEMENT WORK. 



ROBERT G. CONKLIN, Forester. 



The lands which the State owns are commonly called forest lands, 
but this is a comprehensive term. These lands may be divided, accord- 
ing to the character of growth, into six types, as follows : 

Type A. Mature Growth Areas. Lands on which there is a growth 
to maturity, which will only depreciate in value by being allowed 
to stand. 

Type B. Normally Stocked Areas^. These are the lands which con- 
tain an average stock of young growth, being neither greatly over- 
stocked nor greatly under-stocked. This does not mean that they 
contain a normal growing stock. 

Type C. Over-stocked Areas. These are the lands on which there is 
a good young growth of various species, but which stands too 
thick for proper growth. There may be a few cases of lands which 
are over-stocked with old growth, but they are few. 

Type D. Under-stocked Areas. These are the lands on which there 
are not sufficient trees to form a forest canopy to protect the soil. 
On these areas there is very often considerable young growth of 
little value. 

Type E. Barrens. These are not lands entirely without growth, as 
the name might indicate, but are lands which contain nothing 
more valuable than scrub-oak or fire-cherry. Hundreds of acres of 
this type of land are to be found in all parts of the State, and Pike 
county has a large area. 

Type F. Open Fields. This, perhaps, needs no explanation, as 
they are just what their name implies. They are found on almost 
all of the reserves, but not in large areas. 

This classification is not intended to be taken as a standard, but 
is intended merely as a rough classification for the pui-pose of this 
paper. 

To give here a lengthy picture of the conditions existing in many 
parts of the State where fire has followed the lumber man, and only 
the stumps are left, is not necessary. We have all seen them and 
know what they are. Likewise we are familiar with the other types 
of land as given above, so a picture of them is not necessary. 

We are given the work of making something of these lands. What 
we make out of them depends on the success we have in keeping out 
fires, and the improvement work put upon them. 



19 * 

This improvement work is mainly directed toward the correction of 
bad conditions, as stated in the types above, and may be said to con- 
sist of three operations, improvement cuttings, thinnings, and planta- 
tion work. 

There is a distinction to be made between improvement cuttings and 
thinnings. 

An improvement catting is the first cutting made on a new area, 
with the purpose of bringing the growing stock as near the normal 
as possible, by removing dead, dying, and valueless species. A thinning 
is one of the cuttings made at regular intervals during a rotation, to 
reduce the growing stock to the normal. This distinction is used by 
the Federal Forest Service, and has been sanctioned by various au- 
thorities. 

While our systems of protection embrace all of the lands we own, 
our improvement work is directed mainly towards the lands of types 
C and F, the over-stocked areas, and the open fields. In one case, on 
the Mont Alto Division of the South Mountain reserve, a tract which 
came under type A has been improved, but this is the only one of that 
class. 

All of our lands demand more or less immediate attention, and I 
shall attempt to show why this attention should be given them ; that 
is, show the necessity for advancing improvement work on the re- 
serves. 

First, we will consider it from the point of silvicultural reason. 
This reason applies more closely to lands of the over-stocked type 
than to any of the others. On these areas we find conditions which 
are the very reverse of good. The trees are crowded together, their 
boles are thin and spindly, and their crowns small and sparse. 

Every quality of soil has a definite amount of nourishment available 
for plant use, and no more. Consequently when an area contains 
more trees than the soil contains nourishment to sustain, we find the 
conditions stated above. And this is what we find on lands of type C. 
There is insufficient nourishment for the stock, consequently the trees 
are retarded in their development and what growth there is, is gen- 
erally of an inferior quality. These conditions are opposed to the 
best silvicultural development standards, and the longer they are 
allowed to remain so, the worse they will become. Now, go in there, 
remove the smaller and less valuable trees, and make available for 
the remaining stock the food which the removed trees used, and also 
the space for the spreading of their crowns. The remaining stock 
will advance rapidly, their crowns will spread out, and the diameter 
and height increment will increase. If enough trees are removed, the 
boles of the small spindly trees will increase more rapidly in diameter. 
If carrying out this improvement work means the advantages here 



20 

stated, does not neglect of the work mean a corresponding loss? 
Every year the work is omitted means a year lost to the trees' develop- 
ment, and in the aggregate this is a great loss. 

On the Mont Alto division of the South Mountain reserve, on the 
point of Pine Mountain, along the public road to the Consumptive 
Camp, there was made in the year 1904, an improvement cutting, cover- 
ing a number of acres. The worthless and stunted trees were re- 
moved, cut into cord wood, and sold. Here we can see, in one phase, 
the silvicultural value of the work. Before this work was done there 
were a few white pine seedlings growing here. Their tops were of a 
sickly yellowish color, and the seedlings were not making their best 
growth. Since the cutting was made there is the greatest difference 
to be seen in these seedlings. Their tops are of a deep rich green, 
and they are growing very fast. And in addition, there are great 
numbers of all kinds of young seedlings coming on. These will soon 
fill the blanks left by the removal of the worthless and dead trees. To 
obtain the best returns and development on all these lands, they 
must be managed so as to bring the growing stock as near normal 
as may be done, and as soon as possible. 

The economic and financial side of this question is somewhat closely 
allied with the silvicultural side, for on the attainment of the best 
silvicultural development depends the highest financial return. While 
the carrying on of this work now does not mean large financial return 
at the present time, there are economic reasons why it should be done 
at once. 

One thing is sure: The carrying on of this work at present does 
not mean any increase in the cost of the work, but may mean a some- 
what lower rate. The cutting and removal of small soft saplings is 
certainly cheaper than the removal of the larger harder poles, not 
only in the cutting but in the handling. Does not forest economy 
demand that work of this kind be done when it can be done with the 
least cost? 

And then there is another phase. The removal of the stunted, dis- 
eased, and dying valueless trees means there is so much more nourish- 
ment available for the remaining trees. As stated above, this pro- 
duces higher development both as to wood quality and quantity. 
Better development means greater financial return. 

Take an area capable of producing two cords per acre per annum 
under the over-stocked conditions. The improvement of these lands 
will mean an increase of perhaps one cord per acre per year bringing 
the total up to three cords per acre per year. At tlie common rate 
for cord wood this means an increase in value of .f2.00 per acre per 
year. Should this work be put otf for 10 years, it would mean a loss 
of 10 cords per acre at a value of about $20.00 in the value of the 
woods. Will it not be better, financially, to do this work now when 
the cost is the lowest, and secure this increase in value? 



21 

Another economic reason for doing this work now is to prevent 
loss by reason of waste in the woods. This applies to two classes of 
lands, those on which there is no stock of any value or of very small 
value, and those on which there is a great quantity of timber, the 
removal of which is a help, both by benefitting the remainder and by 
a financial return. 

Take those referred to first, which includes the open fields and the 
barrens. In the open fields and barrens we have a dead investment, 
*. e., one which calls for expense, protection and taxes, but which pro- 
duces no return. This is wasteful, but it cannot be remedied at once. 
In three counties, Adams, Franklin, and Huntingdon, we have taken 
steps to put these lands into the paying class. White pine and other 
seedlings have been planted on the open fields. 

And again in the open fields we have another source of waste. On 
these places we encounter two great soil enemies, leaching and erosion. 
Kains beat down on the soil and what goes into the ground takes 
with it some of the soil fertility while that which runs off carries 
away the soil bodily. Trees are natural soil fixers and hence they 
are the things to use here. 

So for every year these lands, the open fields and barrens, are left 
in their present state there is a loss through lack of return and pay- 
ment of expenses, through loss of soil and soil fertility. 

On hundreds of acres of State land, the ground is occupied by a 
mfe:ture of valuable and valueless species. By the removal of the 
latter so much greater area will be available for the use of the former. 
On the Mont Alto Division on the top of the mountain, along the 
public road to the Sanatorium, there was a stand in which oaks of 
no value and aspen occupied much of the area. Under the direction 
of the forester, during the fall of 1904, these were removed, and now 
a good growth of oaks and chestnut is occupying the ground and fill- 
ing the blanks. 

As for the second mentioned lands, where the logs and tops are 
strewn around and dead and dying standing trees occupy the ground, 
the question has three phases. First, unless this stuff is utilized im- 
mediately it will be impossible to derive from it any revenue, for it 
will become rotten and worm eaten. Second, this stuff is occupying 
ground which should be supporting good young growth. Third, areas 
like this are fire traps. Fire starts easily here and once started burns 
fiercely, destroying everything in its path. 

So improving areas like this will do three things ; produce a definite 
financial return, give the young growth a chance, and destroy fire 
traps. On the Mont Alto division, Pondtown tract, there were 40 or 
50 acres of dead poles. It had been a growth of oak and chestnut 
of 4 to 10 inches in diameter, but fire killed it all. This stuff was 



22 

cut by the people of the vicinity, and hauled away. The Department 
received |0.50 per cord on the stump. Here the young sprouts are 
again taking hold and making a good start. 

On lands of type A, where we have the mature and over-mature 
stuff, the question of the immediate advancement of this work hinges 
on the fact that these lands have ceased to increase in value by 
reason of any wood increment; but are either at a standstill or are 
going back. Just as soon as stock ceases to increase in value it is 
ripe for cutting, and where it has started to go back or depreciate in 
value it should be cut at once. Why not reap the crop while it will 
give us the highest returns, and give the second growth the advantage 
of that much start ? 

Again we have to go to the Mont Alto division for an example of 
this phase. On the Guilford tract near Pondtown there was a mature 
stand of oak and chestnut. Under the supervision of a forester this 
was cut off. It yielded the State about |1,400.00 clear profit. And 
here the sprouts are already starting, although this was cut over only 
during the spring and summer of 1907. 

On the Caledonia division of the same reserve there are several 
stands which are about ready for cutting, and should be cut within 
the next few years. But so long as a stand is not really going back, 
it will perhaps be better to expend all our efforts upon those areas 
which are in greater need of improvement. 

The financial side has this to be said in its favor, that by deriving 
a return from the lands we will be meeting the popular demand for 
some visible sign of what this business will amount to. 
. There is still another phase to this subject, which, while it may not 
appeal very strongly to the forester, has a decided hold on the minds 
of the people. This is the aesthetic value of the forests. One of the 
popular ideas of forestry is that we are working toward the creation 
and maintenance of forests as parks and outing places for the people. 
As we are to a greater or less extent working for the interests of the 
people, we should recognize this public demand so far as is compatible 
with the best interests of the forest. 

When we come to look at the two extremes of forest land, and 
scrub oak barrens of Pike county or the stripped hillsides of Tioga 
county on one hand; and the cathedral pines of Mont Alto or the 
hard-wood grove on the road between Caledonia and the Sanatorium 
on the other, we will all agree that there is a great deal of good in 
the idea, of developing tlie aesthetic beauty of the forests. There is 
a necessity at this time to get the work before the public. We must 
show that we are doing something real. Where will we find anything 
so. likely to attract attenticm as the fact that an agency has been at 
work removing some of the eye-sores which exist along the public 
roads? A well regulated forest, without a tangle of old logs and 



23 

greenbriars littering the floor, means more to the people than all 
the explanation about silvicultural development and economic use of 
the soil, and they will appreciate any effort we may make along this 
line. 

Almost all of the operations so far carried out have been along the 
routes of public travel. Here the people see and appreciate the fact 
that something is being done. So with the necessity of getting the 
, public's attention. Since the people will appreciate the development 
of natural beauty, do you not think this another reason for the ad- 
vancement of improvement work? 

And now will this work pay ? There is an idea somewhat prevalent 
among the people that the real object of improvement work is the 
immediate return to be derived from the sale of material. That this 
idea is erroneous we all know. The real value of improvement work 
lies in the increased value of the remaining stock. In many cases 
improvement work can be made to pay for itself and in some cases to 
yield a profit. But where the need for advancing the work is great, it 
would be better to do it at a small immediate loss than to neglect it and 
lose the increase in value of the stock. As for plantation work it 
will more than pay for itself in the future. 

Most of the states are taking up work in forestry, Pennsylvania per- 
haps in the lead. She has gone into it deeper and more business like 
than any of the others. There is still a lot of criticism and abuse by 
people who do not know anything of the subject. 

On our work will depend the disarming of these critics and their 
change to friendliness. As before stated, most of the criticism 
is on the ground that there is nothing of any value resulting from 
the work. By advancing improvement work as rapidly as possible 
and showing by actual results that there is something being done, we 
will make and hold them friends. 

While we all concede that improvement work is a necessity, we 
must not forget the need for another phase of the work, perhaps as 
important. I refer to protection. All improvement will count for 
nothing if we are to have it destroyed by fire. Every year thousands 
of acres are burned over. What will it benefit us if our work is to 
be obliterated within a year or two? While paying, therefore, all 
possible attention to the work of improving the lands, let us see that 
lands and work are properly protected. 



24 



A SYSTEM OF FOKEST BOOK-KEEPING. 



ROBERT G. CONKLIN, Forester. 



In working out a system of book-keeping for a reserve, there is one 
thought to be kept constantly before you, simplicity. Where a forester 
has to do his own book-keeping, a complicated system will increase 
his work two-fold. Book-keeping will generally be done in the even- 
ings after the day's reserve work is over, and a complicated system 
will needlessly increase his labors. 

The conditions under which we must work are, perhaps, unlike any 
others where book-keeping is done. Each reserve is like a department 
in a big manufacturing concern, and yet different ; for while a depart- 
ment of manufacturing has only one operation to deal with, here we 
have as many different operations as there are compartments or 
cutting areas in the reservation. 

All our expenses are returned to a central office, and paid by 
moneys from there. Likewise all receipts go into the same ofl&ce, 
but are paid from there into a different fund. 

To work out a system of book-keeping which will be simple, yet 
applicable to the conditions under which we must work, will take 
time and experience. I am not an expert accountant, nor have I 
had an extensive experience in book-keeping. Consequently I do not 
set up any recommendations I may make as the best, but simply as 
recommendations. 

In modern business practice, the card index system is rapidly taking 
an important part. Business forms of various kinds simplify mat- 
ters, and system plays an important part. 

On the Mont Alto division, there is in use a system of book-keeping 
which combines the use of books, blank forms, and cards under a 
somewhat elaborate system. This system of book-keeping is good and 
I thoroughly approve it, as it is clear and practical. There the con- 
ditions differ very much from the conditions on the reserves generally, 
for there are school accounts and reserve accounts which intermingle 
somewhat. But it is too complicated and elaborate for use on a re- 
serve where conditions are simpler and the forester has to do his own 
book-keeping. 

At Mont Alto they use the day-book, ca.sh book, and ledger; a card 
index system, and a system of time-sheets and reports. The system 
of time-sheets and reports is good, and as it is, jierhaps, as simple 



25 

and effective as could be devised, it will be suitable for use on all 
reserves ; but as for the books and cards, I believe them too cumbrous 
and require too much work to be valuable on reserves. 

At the Asaph Nursery I tried to devise a system, which, while 
simple, would fill all requirements. Of course, here conditions were 
much different from those found on a reserve, for we had only one 
operation to take care of. Other operations such as surveys and road 
work, were simply charged to the Department. Here only two books 
were used in connection with the system of time sheets, a journal and 
a ledger. In the journal everything was charged as used, except 
labor, which was entered only at the end of each week or the last day 
of the month. In the ledger the work was divided into such accounts 
as operation, protection, grounds and buildings, equipment, etc. The 
real stock account was headed "Pennsylvania Department of Fores- 
try," and all goods and checks received were credited to this account. 
All expenditures made for outside reserve work, but paid from the 
nursery, were debited to this account. At the end of the season the 
inventories of equipment, protection, and seedlings, were debited to 
tills account and the account balanced. This system is faulty without 
a doubt, but having had no previous experience and needing it im- 
mediately it was the best that could be evolved at the time. 

When I submitted this question for the Convention I had not ex- 
pected to be assigned it as a subject, but had expected to get some 
information from the Department as to their wishes in this matter. 
So far as I know there has never been any statement made to the 
foresters as to how they wanted the accounts kept. Are we to keep 
a simple record of expenses and receipts, and allow the profits and 
losses to be determined for each reserve as a whole, or by compart- 
ments, at the Department? Or are we to keep a more elaborate sys- 
tem of accounts so that we can determine at a glance whether the 
operations on each compartment, or on the reserve as a whole, are 
being carried on at a profit or a loss? So far, I have been going on 
the supposition that the second case is the one under which we are 
working. 

There is one thing which should be kept in mind though, and that 
is that all operations, expenses, and receipts, for each compartment 
should be kept separate. Whether this will mean simply a separate 
account in the ledger or a separate ledger for each compartment, de- 
pends on the viewpoint. Suppose we use one ledger. In this- ledger 
each compartment or operation should have a separate account, and 
different accounts such as pole wood, lumber, shingle wood, etc., 
should be kept. 

The use of a loose leaf ledger will, perhaps, be better than this for 
at the end of each year the leaves of the various compartments could 
be separated and filed, each under its own head. 



' 26 

By keeping these separate accounts or books, each compartment 
will be made a separate investment. 

But this is, perhaps, too elaborate, for it will require that each 
compartment have its own rangers ; that the forester and his assist- 
ant will have to keep record of their time so as to charge it to the 
compartments they have worked on; and that will mean perhaps too 
many accounts.* 

I believe the best way would be to have someone whose business it 
is to solve such problems work out a simple but comprehensive 
system of book-keeping for reserve use. 

I do have a few recommendations to make : 

First: Let the system be as simple and comprehensive as possible. 
Nothing causes so much trouble and worry as mistakes in book- 
keeping, due to ignorance of the system used. 

Second: Use wherever possible blank forms which indicate clearly 
what is required. 

Third: Keep the accounts of each range or compartment separate, 
so that a glance will suffice to show whether the operations have 
been carried on at a loss or gain. 

Fourth : Keep separate accounts, if possible, for the various classes 
of products. 

Fifth: Keep a general account which will show the status of the 
business of the entire reserve at once. 

There is still another point which I wish to place before this con- 
vention, and that is the value of an accurate and minute record of 
^he daily progress of the work on each reserve. The use of a separate 
record book for each compartment would very likely be much better, 
but perhaps it would entail too much work. The best way may be 
to use what may be called a Year Book. Each book would be divided 
into the same number of parts as there are compartments in the 
reserve and the complete record of the operations on the compart- 
ments entered in the part of the book allotted to it. By the use of 
a separate leaf book waste in paper could be eliminated, and the 
sheets used could be removed from the cover at the end of the year 
and filed under their proper head. This would not only be cheap 
but would reduce bulkiness in the record. 

But whatever is done, one thing must be remembered: A full and 
complete record of all transactions both in book-keeping and records, 
should be kept on each reserve. The sooner a practical system is 
worked out and put into use, the better it will be for all parties and 
interests concerned. 



*At present the conditions on nacli reserve differ from those on every other. With the in- 
struction in forest book-kfeping; received at the Acndeiiiy, each forester is expected to keep the 
best accoiinls umk'r tlic (•irciimstanccs, di'tenniniiiK f">r lilinsclt liirp-ly wliat nre his ueeds. After 
work on new reserves lias been reduced to a system, uniform accounts will be required. 

Commissioner of Forestry. 



27 



FOEEST NUKSERIES AND NURSERY WORK. 



W. H. KRAFT, Forester. 



The ever increasing demand for desirable timber trees brings to 
our mind the mission of Forest Nurseries, which is to supply seed- 
lings of the most desirable species, in large quantities, at a nominal 
co^t, to be used in reforesting waste and burned over lands. 

These forest nurseries are being established by individuals, rail- 
road, and lumber companies, state and national governments, for their 
own use, and professional nurseymen for the sale of desirable seed- 
lings of the timber species for forest planting. This method is used to 
overcome the uncertain and slow natural regeneration of our most 
desirable species of timber trees. 

The forest nurseries I will deal with mostly are the ones now 
established and operated under the direction of the Pennsylvania 
Forest Reservation Commission. 

These nurseries, of which there are three principal ones at the 
present time are so situated in difterent parts of the State, that seed- 
lings from them may be supplied to the different reserves without 
long or expensive shipment. 

The one situated at Mont Alto, Franklin county, was established in 
the spring of 1902, and with which most of you are familiar from our 
forestry reports. One is situate at Greenwood, Huntingdon county, 
established in the fall of 1906. The other is situate near Asaph, 
Tioga county, established in the spring of 1907. Of the nursery at 
Greenwood, of which I now have charge, I wish to state as follows: 

This nursery contains about two and one-half acres, is situate 
on a northwest slope in an old field, which was under cultivation 
for farm crops until the nursery was established thereon. The site 
is an ideal one for the raising of coniferous seedlings. The soil is 
of a shaly character and is protected on the west by a strip of wood- 
land, which breaks the force of the prevailing westerly winds. 

In the fall of 1906, Forester W. L. Byers, had this site plowed, 
manured, and cleared of stones. He also prepared the soil and 
planted in nursery rows two feet apart, one and one-half bushels 
of white oak acorns, one-quarter bushel of pignut hickory, one pound 
of black locust, which he gathered in the locality nearby. He also 
prepared twenty nine seed beds 4 x 70 feet, for the planting of white 
pine seed the following spring. In the spring of 1907, I was placed 
in charge of this nursery, but owing to the unfavorable weather and a 
late season I was unable to advance the work begun the fall before, 



28 

until the last week in April. With what help that could be pro- 
cured at that time, the seed beds were prepared and there were 
planted 75 lbs. of white pine in drills six inches apart, sowing a 
few beds broadcast as an experiment only; 5 lbs. Scotch pine, 5 lbs. 
European larch, 10 lbs. white ash, 3 lbs. cucumber, 40 lbs. shellbark 
hickory, 40 lbs. bitteriiut hickory, all sowed in drills six inches apart. 

The seed beds are raised about four inches above the path, are 
4 X 70 feet, and run east and west giving them the benefit of the 
shifting light throughout the day. All the seeds above mentioned 
were procured by the Commissioner from professional seedsmen, and 
were sent me too late to make test for germination. Owing to the 
ground remaining cold and damp until in June, the germination of 
all the seeds was retarded, none making any appearance until late 
in June and in July. The conifers showed almost a perfect germina- 
tion, also the white ash. The cucumber was evidently worthless, 
as none of it germinated. The hickories were so badly ravished by 
the pine squirrels that very few were left to germinate. At the 
present time I am unable to give the exact number of seedlings in 
the nursery as no inventory was taken in the fall of 1907 owing to 
insufficient help. Taking an inventory in the fall requires another 
in the spring to account for loss by severe winter or heavy spring 
frosts. With proper appliances, such as screens to shade the beds, 
and an av^iilable water supply in case of drought for watering beds 
and seedlings, I think this nursery when fairly started will produce 
from five to eight hundred thousand seedlings a year. This will de- 
pend largely on the age of the seedling to be used in the planting 
operations, as more two year old seedlings can be procured than 
those transplanted. The age at which the seedlings may be used 
will depend largely on the location of the plantation; two year old 
seedlings being satisfactory for plantations in old fields and ground 
which are easily prepared for i^lanting; but where there is a heavy 
growth of brush or briars, four year old transplants are more ad- 
visable. The additional cost of these transplants will be about |2.50 
per thousand. 

Other work done at Greenwood in connection with the nursery 
Avas the making of a black walnut i)lantation in an old field contain- 
ing about four and one-half acres. This was planted in the fall of 
1!)0(> by Forester Byers, about 30 bushels of walnuts being used and 
]>lanted four by four feet. The nuts were greatly destroyed by the 
squirrels during llie winter. Wliat seed germinated made a thrifty 
growth, in the fall of 1!)07 raugiug from six to twelve inches in 
height. The blanks were filled in in llie fall of 1007 with nuts, 
nineteen busliels l»eing used for tlie purpose. 

The year 1007 iiaving been a fairly good white pine seed 3'ear, one 
hundred and fourteen bushels of white pine cones were gathered by 



29 

boys of this locality, for which I paid thirty cents per bushel. While 
Ihese cones when dried did not turn out as large a quantity of seed 
per bushel as some foresters estimate, from 114 bushels of cones I 
cleaned 77 lbs. of seed, ready for planting, averaging one pound of 
seed to not quite every bushel and a half of cones. Counting total 
cost of building screens on which to dry the cones, trays to catch the 
seed, and cost of cones, the price per pound was about |0.59. Allow- 
ing that these screens and trays will last five years instead of one, 
the cost would be reduced nearly one third. 

The crop of other desirable seeds in this region, excepting walnuts, 
was a total failure in the year 1907. 

The cost of labor in our nurseries and upon reserves could be re- 
duced considerably, I think, if the question of hiring labor could be 
better adjusted than at present. Men are now employed only during 
the busy season of the year. This is unsatisfactory, as a man ac- 
quanted with the character of the work will do considerably more 
than one who is not. Therefore, steady, industrious men, who are 
quick to learn the work, are unwilling to be employed at a low wage 
for a few months only in the year. When men can obtain work at 
a higher wage even if it require their being away from home a great 
part of the time, they will seek such work. On account of the in- 
creased cost of living a man is unable to provide for a family on 
an average of eight months' work a year with 16 to 18 days per 
month, working only 145 to 150 days per year out of a possible 300 
working days. Many of these men could be retained by giving them 
every possible day's work the weather permits. This could be done 
in opening necessary fire lanes, repairing roads, making improve- 
ment cuttings, and doing other work. Thus by employing a regular 
force, considerable more work could be done on the reserve with a 
smaller force than in the present way, and it would keep desirable 
labor in and about the reserve. 



DIVIDING THE KESERVES. 



LEWIS E. STALE Y, Forester. 



The subject of dividing the reserves into ranges, blocks, compart- 
ments, and sub-compartments is, ^vdthout doubt, one which requires 
much forethought and a careful study of actual conditions found in 
the forest. Not alone must we be well acquainted with present con- 
ditions, but past conditions should be known in so far as they are 



30 

of value in the future management of the area to be treated. If 
the reserves were to be divided into their several divisions at short 
intervals, say every five or ten years, the subject would be quite differ- 
ent; but since when once divided they are divided for all time ex- 
cepting for small changes, we should have nothing short of a com- 
I^lete past and present record. A division of the forest depends 
largely upon the kind of management to which the reserve will be 
subjected: that is, do the conditions of the forest require an inten- 
sive management, or are they such that warrant only an extensive 
management ? 

These conditions can only be actually known by a complete sur- 
vey. Until recently, the boundaries of lands owned by the Common- 
wealth were not well located. The method of this complete. survey 
depends largely on the value of the forest as represented by the re- 
turns. Generally speaking, all main lines such as boundaries, all 
public roads, all streams, meadows, farms, and anything else that 
may be of a permanent nature should be surveyed and accurately 
marked. As these data, so procured, will form all skeleton maps 
for future management of the entire area, they should be carried 
out in the minutest detail and to the greatest degree of accuracy. 
Nothing should be left undone that might be of value in determining 
what lines to follow for the future. 

Considering conditions as we have them on the reserves today, each 
reserve may be well divided under the following general heads, viz : 

1st. Eanges, 

2nd. Kanges into Blocks, 

3rd. Blocks into Compartments, 

4th. Compartments into sub-compartments. 

By a range is understood such an area as may be conveniently cov- 
ered by one man called a ranger. In the division of a reserve of 
twenty thousand acres or more there are two conditions which must 
be considered: The situation and the intensil}' of management. 

In the case of scattered blocks, or in hill}^ country such as we have 
to deal with, the ranges may comprise a smaller area than if the 
blocks are consolidated or situate on level ground. In forests which 
yield a small return, as is the case with ours at present, the ranges 
may be large. Where the returns are large it pays to make the ranges 
small in order to facilitate a more intense management of the area. 
The boundaries of ranges should in all cases conform to some very 
conspicuous topographical features. If for some reason no well de- 
fined ridge can be liad, some permanent fixture as a public road may 
be well suited to mark the boundary. In rare instances either of 
these may make the range too small or too large. Then the only 
method would be to designate the boundary by an opened line. It 



31 

miglit happen that this line between the ranges may be well located 
for a fire lane and under these conditions would serve for both 
boundary line and fire protection. 

Each range may again be divided into smaller divisions called 
blocks. These may or may not be of value other than reducing the 
area into workable sizes. If it should be convenient to divide the 
range into blocks by natural boundaries, very good; if not, it may 
be no detriment to the range. On large ranges this division into 
blocks may aid in designating any particular part of the range. 

Again blocks are divided into compartments. Compartments are 
sometimes called the sylvicultural unit because they form the unit 
of work. The whole of this division is effected by using in addition 
to the outer boundary lines, interior natural lines, as creeks and 
smaller water courses; or some geographic unit, as a basin formed 
by two hills, the entire flat on top of a hill, or, in some cases, from 
the top of a hill to a ravine. 

The boundaries of compartments may be made to coincide with the 
conditions of growth. For instance, a compartment may be com- 
posed of a pure stand of pine, of chestnut, or of some other species. 
Age conditions and, in some cases, public roads may conveniently 
form compartment boundaries ; but it is best to have some geographi- 
cal feature form boundaries when convenient. This will do away with 
Ihe possibility of the lines ever being changed, — something that must 
be guarded against. 

The size of the compartments as well as of other divisions depends 
on the intensity of management, the extent of danger from fire, and 
the size of the former division. 

When there is necessity for dividing compartments these divisions 
are known as sub-compartments. Such sub-divisions should be 
avoided as much as possible because of the additional expense in- 
curred in their management. When a compartment is composed of 
an area of large trees and an area of small trees each area may be 
called a sub-compartment, but as soon as there areas can be thrown 
together without much distinction of age classes it should be worked 
as one compartment. 

Among the advantages to be gained by dividing the reserves are 
the following: 

Each ranger knows exactly the area which he is to cover or patrol. 

In case of operations a record can be kept and the e?:act location 
designated. 

The best management can be effected by striving toward the ideal 
forest, and this is most easily accomplished by a systematic division 
of the forest into workable units. 



32 



A KEGULARLY EMPLOYED LABOR FORCE. 



LEWIS E. STALET, Forester. 



The necessity of a regular force of laborers is becoming more ap- 
parent as forestry advances. Not alone in forestry has this neces- 
sity manifested itself, but in all business operations one of the first 
things to be considered is men, — a regular force of laborers — men 
that can be depended upon at all times. 

How can good results be accomplished if the men that are doing 
the work are careless and unconcerned? If good results are to be 
accomplished in forestry as in any other business, the men must be 
more or less trained for the work they are to do. They must have 
practice, and this can only be obtained by having them employed 
regularly. 

Some one may make the statement that men are plentiful, that men 
can be picked up at any time. Of course to a very great extent this 
is true at present, but is it not also true that such men as are avail- 
able at any time of the year, are in many cases men that cannot be 
depended upon? You have them one day and the next day they are 
gone. They have some excuse, your work does not suit them, or perhaps 
the wages are too little. 

Why does the State train its own foresters? It is simply because 
the Commission has found it to be the most advantageous way in 
which to fit men for the work. Men who are trained along certain 
lines can undoubtedly work to better advantage than those who may 
be picked up at any time. The same rule may be applied to laborers. 
They may not be so well adapted to the work in the beginning, but 
in most cases, woodsmen, in particular, can in short time do the work 
as it must be done. 

A very good example of a regularl}^ employed force of laborers is 
the section gang of a railroad. These companies have a certain 
amount of work which must be done just as the forester has on each 
reserve. Could not these railroad companies depend on picking up 
men as the occasion demanded? Is it not true that the "section'' 
labor is almost at an end as soon as the rough weather sets in, and 
yet the majority of the gang are retained the entire j'ear? There is 
something at all times to employ them if it is only to make a surplus 
of handles for their tools. The retaining of these men, in my opinion, 
is simply because the railroad companies have found it to be to their 



33 

advantage to stick closely to their experienced workmen. The com- 
panies have so distributed their labor over the entire year that men 
are needed at all times. 

The same idea with reference to distributing labor over the entire 
year could be used to advantage in forestry. While it is true there 
is certain forestry work, such as nursery work and fire patrol, which 
requires prompt action, there is a great deal of labor of other kinds 
which can be distributed over the greater part of the year just as it 
must be done when laborers cannot be had. 

In forestry nearly every kind of labor must be done with the great- 
est care. Ordinary laborers in many cases are not capable of accom- 
plishing the best results. For instance, take a man into the forest to 
do improvement work who has never swung an axe more than to split 
wood on his own wood pile ; while he may be one of the best of work- 
men, he knows nothing about handling an axe, nothing about felling 
trees, cannot cut stumps as they should be cut, and in general knows 
little about the woods and the requirements of the work. But he is 
willing and always ready to do what is asked of him in his way of 
working. This man will soon realize how improvement work must 
be done, and in a short time can do fairly well. If men of this kind 
could be employed regularly, they undoubtedly would work to better 
advantage than if picked up at leisure. 

Not alone in improvement work would a regularly employed force 
of laborers be a great advantage, but on reserves where nurseries 
have been established they could be available for the rush season of 
the year. In the early spring when nursery work must be pushed, 
when most planting must be done, and, as a rule when men are scarce, 
These regular men could be used to great advantage. By experience 
vhey would soon learn how nursery work must be done and in case 
of the absence of the forester in charge they could go ahead and cause 
no delay which so often is the case where the forester has charge of 
work other than that of the nursery. 

Again in the spring and fall fire seasons there is always necessity 
for placing extra fire wardens on most of the reserves. The ranger 
in most cases has to patrol at least from five to seven thousand acres 
of mountainous country which, of course, is entirely too great. He 
may be in one region and fire be burning in another for several hours 
before he discovers it. Instead of taking some laborer not suited to 
the position, as in many cases the forester is compelled to do, one of 
these regular men could be available for each range at any time; and 
in case of rain or damp weather there is always plenty of other work 
for them, such as opening roads, fire lanes, repainting boundary lines, 
and numerous other small jobs that otherwise must be done. 

The salary of these men would necessarily vary according to the 
standard of the locality. In localities where lumbering is carried on 

3 



34 

and where manufacturing establishments are near at hand a larger 
salary would be required. Under conditions as we have them on 
the Mont Alto reserve, $30.00 per month would be a reasonable salary 
to begin, with the chance of a raise as proficiency in the work is 
reached. These men would soon realize the importance of the work 
and once being interested they would undoubtedly work to the ad- 
vantage of the State. 

Next, the value of these men could hardly be estimated in case of 
fire. While this may not be true on the Mont Alto reserve where the 
Academy students are ready in a few minutes to respond to any fire 
call, yet on reserves other than this one, and where men are scarce, 
truly great results could be accomplished with these regular men. 
They would be ready at any time and cause no delay in getting to the 
fire, something that may aid in checking disastrous fires. 

As a summary, where nurseries have been established on the re- 
serves, the regularly employed force of men could greatly aid in 
getting the work through. After the rush season of nursery work 
they could be used to advantage in improvement cutting, thinnings, 
opening fire lanes and trails, and in any surveying that might be 
done; and last but not least they would be at all times ready for fire 
service which, in case of scarcity of men, would alone more than repay 
ihe salaries paid them by the State. 



IMPEOVEMENT OF THE EANGER SERVICE. 



B. FRANK HEINTZLEMAN, Forester. 



As tlie state forest reserves are placed in charge of foresters the 
more intense system under which they are managed demands that 
some improvements be made in the ranger service to aid in putting 
the system into effect. The ranger has an important part to perform 
in Ihe management of the State reserves. 

The first thing to discuss when considering improvements along 
This line is the duties of rangers. When a forester has charge of a 
hirge reserve, 20,000 or 25,000 acres, upon which much work has to 
be done, it is not possible for him to look after the details. He 
sliould plan and direct how it is to be done. The ranger should then 
be able to take charge of what does not require direct supervision of 
the forester, and carry it forward according to orders. Such work 
includes improvement cuttings, building roads, cutting fire lanes, 
burning brush, and the like. 



35 

For all work to be done on the respective ranges, they should 
under direction of the forester, employ the help needed and keep the 
time sheets. They should have the right to dispose of fire-killed 
timber in the way prescribed by the forester. Some rangers, es- 
pecially those on reserves which are not yet supplied with foresters, 
seem to think that patroling is the one thing required of them ; that 
if a certain amount of time is spent riding or walking over the reserve 
they have done their full duty. Instead of patroling being their 
whole duty it should be but a small part of it. The other part should 
consist in keeping roads in a passable condition, in opening the trails 
where necessary to make any part of the reserve accessible, in keeping 
springs well cleaned and paths opened leading to them, and in doing 
any other work directed by the Department. 

The rangers should traverse that part of the reserve boundary along 
their ranges, at least once a month. Under the present method used 
by some rangers, of patroling only the roads nearest the lines, adjoin- 
ing owners might cut over them for a long while and the rangers not 
be aware of it. Kangers should be encouraged to operate small nur- 
series in connection with their work and should be supplied with 
the necessary material for planting and instructions concerning the 
raising of seedlings. There are many half days when a ranger would 
otherwise be doing nothing that his time might profitably be spent 
in a nursery. The seedlings raised could be used to plant the many 
small blanks found in almost all forests. 

All rangers should give their entire time to work on the reserves, 
and should not be engaged in an additional occupation, as farming 
or lumbering. No one can farm and care for a large area of forest 
land at the same time. He will either have to slight one or the other, 
and in most cases it will be the forest. Foresters should try to get 
their rangers interested in the work. Until the men are interested 
it will always be somewhat retarded and of a poor quality. Probably 
one of the best ways to arouse interest is for the forester to explain 
to them his plans of work for the coming month or the coming year. 
Explain why such work is necessary and ask their views concerning 
the manner of performing it. State to them the financial results of 
past operations. Men like to know what returns their labor is yield- 
ing. 

The placing of rangers in charge of men employed on the reserves 
should help stimulate interest, for a man is always interested in a 
piece of work if he knows he is the one held responsible for the manner 
in which it is done. Copies of all reports, bulletins and circulars is- 
sued by the Department should be forwarded to them, so that they 
can gain a clear idea of exactly what the State is doing and wishes 
to do on its reserves. 

At the present time some men hold positions as forest rangers who 
who are scarcely able to read and write. As long as the duties of 



36 

rangers include only patroling and watching, these men do very well ; 
but as the reserves are now beginning to be managed more intensely, 
a ranger should be a man of at least sufficient intelligence to be able 
to make reports on work done, to keep the time of laborers, and con- 
duct the sale of wood. 

Again, some of the present rangers are too old to be of much service 
to the Department. These men were often appointed when the land 
was purchased, no doubt because of their familiarity with the lines 
of the tracts. In this, it is true, they are often superior to younger 
men, but as the boundaries of the reserves are now being carefully 
located by surveys and men are being put in charge of the reserves 
who know how to determine the position of a line when the question 
arises, the need of their services in this direction is diminishing 
yearly. Because of their age they do not spend the amount of time on 
The reserves that they should, and they are not able to perform well 
severe labor, which often has to be done under trying conditions, such 
as fighting fire. Therefore, if the maximum age of men appointed 
was about 45 years, and then only those considered who are physically 
able to do hard labor, the reserves would show the result of the change 
in a short time. When a ranger is to be appointed, other conditions 
being equal, a man should be chosen who lives nearest to the reserve. 
One living three or four miles from his reserve cannot give good ser- 
vice with this distance to traverse to reach his work. If dwelling 
houses found on the reserves are to be used as houses for rangers and 
their families, they should be kept in repair. If it is necessary to 
erect buildings for this purpose, comfortable cabins should be built 
as the kind of men we like to occupy them is not the kind that is 
satisfied with anything. 

All rangers should be sworn forest officers. When a man is under 
oath to see that the law is obeyed there is no inclination to leave 
wrongs unrighted. 'The ranger service might be greatlj' improved 
by the payment of a salary of about |45 per month, every man receiv- 
ing the same amount. Very efficient men could be secured at such a 
salary. Even at the present salaries which as a rule are lower, some 
very capable men who are often making a great deal more than the 
I'angers, figuring on a per day basis, inquire as to the prospects of 
getting a position, being attracted hj the regular all-the year-round 
employment. Much good might be accomplished by having the 
rangers make out their reports according to a regular system, show- 
ing the kind of work at which they were employed each day of the 
month, and the number of hours per day. The latter would prevent 
men from spending two or three hours on the reserve and recording 
it as the work of a full day. They should be allowed to be absent 
from tlie reserve a definite number of days per month. If they wish 
to be absent more days than the required number, the permission of 
the forester or of the Department ought first to be obtained. 



37 



A SYSTEM OF FOKEST PKOTECTION. 



JAMES E. McNEAL, Forester. 



Considering the short time which Forestry has been practiced in 
this State, and the condition of our land at present, the primary and 
most essential thing with which we have to deal is the protection of 
forests from damaging agencies. 

Dr. J. T. Kothrock, in an article printed in the 1897 Report of the 
Division of Forestry, has written, — 

"The one central point among existing conditions is that there is 
no use in attempting to save what forests we have, or to restore them 
upon ground from which they have been removed, until a reasonable 
protection against fire is assured. Neither the State nor the in- 
dividual can hope for success until a thorough, radical change has 
been effected." 

Fire protection, together with protection from other damaging 
agencies, precedes all benefits which we can receive, either directly 
or indirectly from our forests, and should be dealt with accordingly 
We should not only fight the danger after it has made its appearance, 
but should take measures for the prevention of all dangers to the 
forests. These dangers are numerous, and may, in a way, be divided 
into three classes: 

1. Dangers from human agencies. 

2. Dangers from organic agencies. 

3. Dangers from inorganic agencies. 

Under the first class, or dangers from human agencies, fire is cer- 
tainly the greatest and most dreaded. Its source may be in so small 
a thing as a match, carelessly thrown aside by a smoker, but whose 
damage may be almost beyond computation, depending upon the con- 
dition of the weather, the efficiency of a protective system, or the 
nearness of a rain. 

In calculating the amount of damage done by fire to forest land, 
usually only the destruction of good trees is taken into consideration, 
but indirectly the forest expectation value is seriously affected and 
the productive capacity of the soil lessened. Through the agency of 
fire the drain on our forests has been almost beyond belief, and 
although there have been large areas cut over, the amount of land 
burned over, in many places greatly exceeds it. This may be illus- 
trated by a ease in Oregon, where, during the past fifty years, there 
have been nearly 1,000,000 acres more land burned over than cut over. 



38 

Another case in which fire has done inestimable damage, occurred in 
New Brunswick in 1825, when there occurred what is known as the 
Miramichi fire, which, in nine hours, destroyed a belt of forest eighty 
miles long and twenty-five miles wide. More than 2,500,000 acres 
were burned over and nearly every living thing was swept from its 
path, 160 persons and nearly 1,000 head of stock perished. A number 
of towns were destroyed and 590 buildings burned. 

Fires of this type are seemingly of the past, greatly due to laws and 
regulations governing the burning of brush, the awakening of the 
people to the importance and necessity of our forests, and the good 
work of Federal and State authorities. In our own State, statistics 
show a marked decrease in loss from forest fires. In 1902 the loss 
was 1620,573, in 1903 it was |241,240, in 1904, $135,873, and in 1905 
it was reduced to |63,951, which is less than 1-9 of the loss four years 
before. It does not follow, however, that the loss will decrease an- 
nually, and until there is a good system of protection established, 
we may look for very heavy losses. 

The loss due to trespass is comparatively small and may be guarded 
against, to a great extent, by having good ranger service, by making 
all boundary lines conspicuous, and by placing warning notices 
through the tract. 

Protection from organic agencies, i. e., from insect and fungus 
attacks, is very difficult and entails much study and experiment. The 
loss by reason of this agency is not nearly so great as that by reason 
of fire, but we must guard against it, nevertheless. This may be ac- 
complished to some extent, by removing all breeding places, as dead 
or dying trees, and slashings. 

Under dangers from inorganic origin we have "wind-falls" which, 
although they do not occur frequently, are often accompanied by 
very heavy losses. On September 30th, 1896, a destructive "wind-fall" 
occurred in Sullivan, Wyoming, and Luzerne counties, and although 
there is no exact estimate of the damage done, it is probable that not 
less than 200,000,000 feet were destroyed, covering an area of from 
10,000 to 15,000 acres. This danger may be partly overcome by using 
l>roper methods of cutting, which should always be done under direc- 
tion of a forester. 

In establishing an effective system of forest protection it is neces- 
sary to do away with the cause of destruction. One of the most 
essential things is good fire and trespass laws. Penalties should be 
so severe that malicious people will be afraid to violate these laws, 
and careless people will be more careful. 

It should be the duty of rangers, from the point of forest protection, 
to patrol the woods in order to guard against fire and trespassers, and 
to keep all fire lanes, or roads and trails used as fire lanes, free from 



39 

inflammable material. They should have some knowledge of harmful 
insects and fungi, in order that attacks may be promptly reported to 
the proper authority and effective measures taken to check them. 

During fire seasons, there should be men employed to patrol the 
woods, if there are not enough rangers to do it properly. There should 
be one man to not more than 5,000 acres. "Look-out" stations, with 
telephone connection when possible, should be built on points com- 
manding a good view of the surrounding country. There should be 
a man stationed at each of these stations while there is danger of 
fire. With the aid of field glasses he would locate fires as nearly as 
possible, and report them so that men might be sent out promptly. 
If a system of telephone lines were established, one can readily see 
That help could be had soon after the fire started and in many cases 
could be controlled, with little damage. A system of telephone lines 
has been successfully operated in the state of Maine, and in 1904 re- 
ports from one telephone are said to have saved many thousands of 
dollars. 

All lumbering contracts should obligate the careful burning of 
slashing, whether on state land or private land adjoining other forest 
land. Although lumbermen do not meet such demands favorably, 
on account of the expense, experiments show a very small cost. In 
pine regions the slash has been piled and burned at the rate of less 
than 25 cents per M. B. F. logs scaled, and in some cases it has been 
as low as 15 cents. In California experiments have been made in 
which the slashing was burned as the lumbermen left it, by burning 
small areas at a time, in a way that the fire can be controlled at all 
times. This has been done successfully and at a small cost. 

Many advantages are derived from the burning of slashing, among 
which are clear ground for better reproduction, destruction of so- 
called ''fire-traps," breeding places for insects and fungi, and easier 
means of travel through the woods. 

There should be on all large tracts, a network of roads and trails 
in order to confine fires to areas as small as possible. When cutting 
fire lanes it is advisable to cut them in places where there are likely 
to be permanent roads in the future, which will be used as fire lanes. 
All fire lanes should be kept free from inflammable material and 
should be opened up annually, soon after the growth stops and before 
the fall fire season begins. When there are railroads through forest 
land there should be a strip burned on either side of the tracks and 
kept free from inflammable material during the time there is danger 
from fire. 

Protection from trespass through ignorance may be established by 
cutting a clean and distinct path along all boundary lines. This path 
should be made conspicuous by marking line trees with a special 
blaze and posting warning notices. Warning notices should also be 



40 

placed along frequently traveled roads and paths through the interior 
of the tract. All corners should be solidly built of stone which will 
not be greatly affected by the elements. In order that corners will 
be conspicuous they should be built of material which is not found 
in the immediate vicinity. 

Although an effective system of forest protection will be expensive 
and will run into a good sized sum of money, it is better to establish 
it as soon as possible than to have losses, every year, that will in a 
comparatively short time exceed the cost of an adequate system of 
protection for many years. This may be illustrated by a case in the 
Adirondack Mountains where, in 1903, fires involving a loss of |3,500 
entailed an additional expense of |175,000 for fire fighting alone. If 
this amount had been used in carrying out a system of protection dur- 
ing the dangerous months the great loss would have been averted, and 
protection afforded for many years. 



MANAGEMENT OF FOKEST LANDS UNDEE PRESENT FOR- 
EST CONDITIONS. 



JAMES E. McNEAL, Forester. 



Under various circumstances a forest may yield its best return in 
wood, bark, or other forest products, in money, or interest on the 
capital which it represents, but which ever of these ways of using a 
forest is chosen in any given case, the fundamental idea of forestry is 
that of making the forest yield the best service possible at present aud 
in such a way that its usefulness in the future will not be diminished, 
but rather increased. A forest well managed under practical methods 
will yield a return in at least one of the ways just mentioned; but 
before it will be in condition to render the best service, there are four 
things which a forest must have. 

These are, — ' 

1. Protection, especially against fire and thieves; for witliout such- 
protection no investment is secure and the most skillful management 
is of little effect. 

2. A strong and abundant reproduction. Without this a forest 
will speedily die out. 

3. A regular supply of mature trees to be cut. 

4. The proper amount of growing space for each tree, in order 
that all trees may grow to the best advantage. 



41 

The first requirement in the management of any property is that 
its condition be known and recorded. Hence, in placing a tract of 
forest land under management a survey is necessary. The object of 
siueh a survey is to have maps showing, 

1. Outside boundaries. 

2. Eoads, rivers, railroads, and other means of transportation. 

3. Lines between different localities having different laws, or 
which come under different jurisdiction, as county and township 
lines. Interior tracts of forest land, and land upon which any rights 
are reserved. 

4. Contour lines and configuration. 

5. Differences of soil. Whether agricultural, forest, or unpro- 
ductive. 

6. Fire lanes. 

7. Cleared land within the tract. 

8. Types of forest. 

9. Any special land marks which may be noted. 

In connection with these maps there should be a general descrip- 
tion of forest, climatic, and surrounding conditions, of possible dan- 
gers, of market and labor conditions, and of means of transportation. 

After this work has been done and one knows the condition of the 
forest, a division may be made into lots and aggregation of lots into 
ranges. In Pennsylvania, where most of the State forest land is in 
mountainous districts, division lines should follow the configuration 
of the soil. Difference of soil or character of growth within lots 
gives rise to sublots. 

A valuation survey should then be made, ascertaining amounts of 
standing timber, rate of growth on various sites, and determining 
capability of production and future yield in material and money. 

All these preparations should be made before a plan of management 
IS determined. After one knows what can be expected from the for- 
est, general plans should be made for all time, and special plans for 
K period of from ten to twenty years. The length of rotation should 
be determined and amounts to be cut should be designated, stating 
lots to be cut, with view of obtaining favorable distribution of age 
classes. Thinnings should be made, and methods determined to be 
iised in felling and culture. 



DISPOSAL OF FIKE-KILLED TIMBEE. 



FAUL H. MULFORD, Forester. 



A fire running through a forest often assumes proportions that 
cause great damage to the roots of trees, burning the humus and 
ground floor, often burning the roots themselves, thus leaving the 



42 

trees with few supports to withstand heavy winds. They are blown 
down and become a prey to fires which pass over that land again. 
Or the fire may burn away the bark of a tree, girdling it and leaving 
it standing a prey to injurious insects which are thus invited to and 
lostered in starting a breeding colony in these dying trees. Finally, 
finding no living tissue to feed upon, these insects go at once to the 
broken branch, or scarred trunk of a living tree, and proceed to start 
their work of destruction. 

These two types of fire-killed trees we have to deal with largely 
on the reserves in this State. A method to dispose of them must be 
found. Standing or lying, they are a detriment to young growth, 
both by crowding and because of fire menace. 

In the work of the U. S. Forest Service, it has been proved by many 
strength tests that fire-killed timber, for instance white pine, or fir, 
(Cir. No. 113, U. S. F. S.) is about twice as strong as green white 
fir; and that it is 9-10 as strong as kilndried timber where it has 
received the same treatment. 

• So there should be no hesitation in offering fire-killed timber as 
second-class lumber, and also as timber ready for preservative pro- 
cess. As the moisture has evaporated, there is no watery sap to act 
as a mechanical barrier to the entrance of the preservative. Green 
or unseasoned timber must be piled for several weeks before it is in 
proper condition for treatment, else it has to be subjected to several 
processes to season it artificially. Artificial seasoning is expensive 
and is liable to reduce the strength of the timber; therefore, sound 
lire-killed timber is really more valuable for preservative purposes 
than green. The dead timber being perfectly seasoned is more easily 
handled and cheaper to ship. Making the larger material salable for 
mining timbers, railroad ties, telephone poles, dimension stuff, and 
posts, which have a ready sale in our State, results in a double 
economy, the prevention of waste, and the saving of more valuable 
material for better uses. 

The principal defect of fire-killed timber 4s check. This appears 
soon after the death of the tree, and apparently does not increase 
later. To prevent decay on the surface, fire-killed timber should be 
barked soon after it is killed. If the bark has been left on, the sap- 
wood will be found somewhat decayed. Most of the conifers, and 
some hardwoods, will last a long time, if not lying flat on the ground. 

In the west, especially in Colorado, where the mines of one city 
alone, Leadville, (Cir. No. 113, U. S. F. S) use each month 350 M.ft. 
B. M. of fire-killed timber for mine props, fire-killed timber is de- 
cidedly preferred to green timber because it is perfectly seasoned and 
light In Denver, fire-killed timber has been used for a number of 
years for boxes and crates with excellent results, being odorless and 
not liable to shrink or warp. 



43 

Pennsylvania with it many mines and factories using great quan- 
tities of mine timber, boxes, pails, and baskets, in their operation, 
should be impressed with the value of this class of material, and thus 
create a market for large quantities of fire-killed timber. 

On a part of the Stone Eeserve, an area of about 3^ acres, lie 25 
M. ft. B. M. of fallen timber killed by fire. It stood for about two 
years only to be wind swept, and having no root system to hold it, 
fell. This is in a place six to eight miles from a railroad, and acces- 
sible only by a very poor trail road. One man made an offer to pay 
|1.00 per M. feet for all logs sawed mill measure, 50 cents per M. for 
Khingles, 50 cents per M. for lath, and 30 cents per M. for fence posts. 
This prospective buyer says ''that by taking all fire-killed and down 
timber, there is still left a good profit at these rates." Another, a 
boss logger, not wishing to make a bid says "|12.00 per M. can be 
Fafely paid for all the better stuff, and fire wood or charcoal be made 
of the inferior material." 

Confining this subject to our own State, we must first realize that 
each reserve because of its geographical and geological position would 
be governed by its own peculiar conditions. The money consideration 
in the disposal of fire-killed timber in one case could hardly be used 
as an example for every other. However, having in mind the idea of 
advanced forestry, and the thought that fire-killed timber is a great 
detriment to growing trees, seedlings, and necessary undergrowth, as 
well as to the cause of forestry, its removal is warranted at an ex- 
pense equal to its revenue. Personally, I believe that its removal 
is warranted at a cost in excess of its return value. Such a deficit 
is to be regarded a good investment on account of the improved con- 
ditions obtained in the then cleared and growing forest. 

Again, with a careful system thoroughly thought out for each re- 
serve and operated under good management, there will eventually 
be a return of revenue far above the expense, and plus this, give a 
clean forest, a practical object lesson in applied forestry, an oppor- 
tunity to train unskilled labor, as well as create a force of local 
workers, breed a friendly instead of a hostile feeling to the cause of 
forestry, and last, but far from least, leave a general result that "He 
who runs may read." 

Each reserve, with an idea of profit from fire-killed timber, must 
first cater to the need of its local market, and then create a market for 
The remainder of the product, the idea being to make the former bear 
the expense, and from the latter, the fragments, receive the clear gain 
or profits of the operation. 

At my station, the Stone Eeserve in Tioga county, from personal 
observation and information received from loggers, lumbermen, and 
local residents, it is believed the amount of fire-killed fallen timber 
warrants the erection of a model plant for the manufacture of lumber. 



44 

boxwood, paving blocks, crate wood, lath, shingles, baled shavings and 
sawdust, poles, fence posts, stakes, fire logs, cordwood, wood distilla- 
tion, charcoal, wood ashes for lye and compost, acid wood butts, and 
pulp wood. All of these could be marketed in a local or foreign 
market at a profit on the total production. 

Having three streams of sufficient volume to generate electrical 
powder to operate such a plant, also to supply power to operate a 
pumping and watering system for the five acre nursery of the reserve, 
The installation of such a system would not be amiss. 

Certain kinds of fire-killed timber can be disposed of to local buyers, 
as in the cases already mentioned, and some cordwood could be sold 
to those making their homes nearby, and at no cost of labor or 
material to the Department; but such sales will be slowly made, and 
the period to exhaust the thousands of cords of stove wood and the 
many thousands board feet of lumber in log form will be long, after 
which the real cleaning up must be done by the State. Until this is 
done the reserve is open to fire, being practically without trails or 
fire lanes, at the present time. With a plant as mentioned, or any 
other of value, and an organized working force fully equipped, the 
question of the disposal of local fire-killed timber will be quickly 
frolved, leaving a benefit in wages, a better sentiment toward forestry, 
and a lasting benefit in the impression of its advantages. 

Thus briefly are outlined my ideas of the very important question 
of the "Disposal of Fire-Killed Timber," on the Stone Keserve, a 
matter on which I have had too little time to go into minute detail. 
After careful consideration it is believed each acre of State land 
having such timber, can be successfully handled, leaving to the State 
a money profit and an improved acreage for reforestation. Of the 
opportunity afforded by the danger of fire-killed timber to improve 
the ranger service, its relation to the question of roads, fire lanes, 
and trails, and a regularly employed labor force, cannot be entered 
upon at this time. That fire-killed timber has a bearing on all these 
matters is well understood by those who have given the subject con- 
sideration. 

Finally, with a sales division of the Forestry Department organized 
to study and ascertain the needs of every portion of this State or 
nearby states, many or all of these products and by-products of the 
reserves could be disposed of to advantage with permanent benefit 
to the Department of Forestry. 



45 



EOADS, FIKELANES, AND TRAILS ON THE RESERVES. 



JOHN L. WITHEROW, Forester. 



Of all the branches of forestry, one that certainly deserves and 
requires our attention at present, is a system of forest roads, fire- 
lanes, and trails. Without these, forestry would be theoretical only. 

A few reasons why: 

1. They make reserves accessible and the removal of products 
possible. 

2. They aid in the suppression of forest fires and insect depreda- 
tions. 

3. They may be made comparatively permanent. 

A reserve road system should be laid out only after a careful study 
of the topography and market conditions of the reserve. It should 
not be built all at one time but rather developed gradually, and 
always fast enough to meet the demands of the increasing intensity 
of management. 

An ideal road would be one which is perfectly level longitudinally, 
solid, smooth, and without curves, but we can only conceive of that 
just as we can an ''Ideal Forest." In proportion to the number of 
these qualities that are lacking, so much less useful is that road. 

The roads of a reserve should always be divided into two classes, 
main roads and minor roads. 

Main roads should lead to the interior of the reserve and should 
be at least 16 feet wide, have a grade of five per cent, of less, and be 
made of stone. 

Minor roads need not be so well built. They will connect main 
roads and also reach out from them into short valleys. 

The old roads that we find on the reserve today were made for the 
purpose of removing forest products. On many of them travel was 
only one way, the empty wagons reaching the top by some other road 
much longer and less steep. On such roads the grade is so great that 
today they may be more properly called trails. They were laid out 
and built by men who knew little or nothing of engineering, but 
simply began and continued their work until their desired point was 
reached. Many of these roads are the best the locality would afiford. 
Others should not be followed in our road building. 

In all cases the route for a road should be surveyed in order to 
accomplish the best results from a given sum of money. Time spent 
on the survey must always mean both time and money saved on the 
construction of the road. 



46 

Not until a road is reduced to a five per cent, grade can it be called 
s good road, on account of the extra time and energy required for 
moving a load on it, and the great expense for maintenance. 

It is the opinion of most men of authority, that the road that 
avoids the grade and is ten times longer, is the better road. 

In laying out a road the survey should not be depended upon as 
the only guide. By every road the largest area possible should be 
made accessible. 

Side drainage is as necessary, if not more so, on forest roads, as 
it is on roads running through cleared country, owing to the reten- 
tive nature of most forest soil. When building or repairing roads the 
camp should be moved as often as necessary to keep with the work. 
A working force of less than four men is unprofitable. 

In our road building operations in Fulton county last year, we 
wanted a fair road up through a narrow valley seven miles long to 
serve both as a road and firelane in case of fire. 

There was a road for three miles that was built over a hundred 
5 ears ago for hauling out charcoal. We used it most of the distance 
except where grades could be avoided or the road straightened. A 
space seven feet wide was cut clear of everything on both sides for 
four miles. After this had been done, it was gone over, all rocks 
above the ground were removed, water turned off and holes filled up. 
This was done for |18.00 per mile for labor. After it was completed 
we could drive from one end to the other in fifty-five minutes. 

There are perhaps no other branches of forestry, unless it be protec- 
tion or survey, on which money spent at present, would give as 
quick returns or equal results as on forest roads, provided they are 
built in the proper places, and not at too great an expense. 

To open up good roads from the interior of a reserve out to settled 
country, and where they are not needed, would be wasting money, 
beside being a temptation to trespass. After roads have been built 
it is comparatively easy to calculate the money saved by considering 
the difl'erence in cost of marketing forest products, or it may be re- 
presented by an increased stumpage value. At present we are taking 
out about 500 railroad ties in Perry county at a profit of at least 
twenty-three cents on each. Had it not been for a road running to 
market, the timber probably would have rotted on the ground, the 
distance being so great as to prevent the building of a road at present. 

No forest road should ever be made less than eight feet wide. A 
narrower road will admit of only one track and a narrow space at 
each side for the water to collect. 

The transverse slope of a narrow road should be one-half inch to 
a foot. On a wide road of, say twenty feet, this may be increased 
for if water has to run a distance of ten feet with a fall of five inches 



47 

it will run to the sides of the road very slowly. Steepness is the worst 
quality a road can have^ as all other bad ones may result from it. 

Water breaks are necessary on hills to turn off water. The should 
be made straight across the road, rather than diagonally, for when 
so made they are liable to break the couplings of heavy wagons. 

It has been found by experience that stone roads built of three 
layers of stone of different sizes, prove most durable. The road bed 
should be level, solid, and free from roots and decayed wood. The 
largest stones are laid or thrown on it. On these a thin layer of 
smaller stones is put to fill up low places and to make it solid. The 
last layer should be fine dust and stones from a stone crusher. It 
should be of stones that contain cement such as lime stones. Such 
a road as this may be sprinkled and rolled or left for a year to settle 
before using. 

A few facts worth remembering when building roads. 

1. It is cheaper, quicker, and easier to remove large rocks by ex- 
plosives than by hand. 

2. Plenty of all kinds of tools, kept in good condition, lessens 
the cost of labor. 

3. The laborers should never be left without instructions where to 
work. They will always find the wrong road. 

4. A lazy man on the working crew is dear at any price. 

5. Be boss yourself unless your advisors are more experienced. ~ 
All public roads on a reserve should be in charge of the Depart- 
ment of. Forestry. The location of many of these will often be such 
that they should be main reserve roads. They cannot be so if town- 
ship officers have the authority to repair them in any way they see 
fit. 

Not until the annual two cent road tax is taken off forest reserves, 
and all the roads on the reserves built and maintained by the Depart- 
ment will it be satisfactory, to our side at least. 



Firelanes. 

Firelanes will serve only for the suppression of fires and diseases, 
and as boundaries of forest divisions. 

They will likely always be necessary in Pennsylvania. The prob- 
lems that interest us most are their cost, location, and width. 

The expense of cutting firelanes will, in some cases, be reduced by 
the sale of the trees cut. Where old roads can be cut out and used 
for firelanes, the cost will be from |10.00 to |20.00 per mile. When 
made separate from roads they take up a large area from which no 
revenues can be had, and require frequent cleaning with money pro- 
duced by the forest. 



48 

The width of firelanes will depend upon the species and its height 
through which the lane is cut, also the density of the stand and num- 
ber of roads nearby. Their width in Pennsylvania will probably 
range from 10 to 25 feet. 

Before laying out or cutting a system of firelanes on a reserve the 
general direction of winds should be noted, as the opening caused by 
some lanes may produce windfalls with certain species if the edge 
of the forest is directly exposed to the strong winds of the locality. 

Sharp curves in narrow lanes will allow fire to cross. They should 
be avoided if possible. 

For several years after being made they will have a tendency to 
grow shut. This they will lose as soon as the strength of the roots 
is exhausted. Firelanes should be of as uniform widths as possible 
and brush cut in the lane should not be piled up along the edges or 
pushed in between bushes, but should be thrown back over the brush, 
where it will decay sooner and not be blown back into the lane by 
every strong wind. 

The entire boundary of all reserves should be a firelane of sufficient 
width to prevent fires from crossing. Eeserve boundaries are often 
on the summit of mountains where growth is not dense or soil valu- 
able for tree growth. These will allow lanes to be wider than else- 
where without any great loss of the working area of the reserve. 

Most forest roads should also serve as a firelane by being cleared 
of all growth on each side, as far back as is necessary to make the 
whole opening of the proper width for a lane. 

There are many reasons why firelanes should be made in connec- 
tion with roads. 

1. The expense for making and cleaning is less. 

2. Floor space is saved allowing a larger working area which re- 
sults in a higher normal yield. 

3. The number of lanes that must be cut through the forest apart 
from roads will be fewer. 

4. Travel will keep the road free from inflammable material. 



Trails. 

Trails may be necessary in many places on the reserve. 

They should connect roads, or roads and streams, or may run from 
the nearest roads to fire towers. They take up little space and can 
be made and kept up at a small expense. 

The loss that may be prevented by time saved on one trip over them 
in case of fire may be more than the original cost of such a trail. 

They should be made sufficiently good to allow a horse to be led 
or ride quickly either way, or for water to be carried by a pack-saddle 
horse if thev are in use on the reserve. 

3477-125 
Lot 52 



49 

The only expense for maintenance will be for keeping otf water. 
Where a trail has been cut out in the middle by water, it usually 

retards travel so much that it is easier through the woods than on the 

irail. Their width and grade will vary as to their usefulness. 
The necessity for roads, firelanes, and trails is so great that if they 

ere neglected, Pennsylvania will fail to receive early revenues from 

her forests. 






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